Lord Garden: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her somewhat opaque Answer, although it contrasts with her own Government's very open and transparent declaration of UK nuclear forces, which is what the reference was about. A recent report by a Washington institute, the US National Resources Defense Council, states that there are 480 nuclear bombs currently fielded by NATO in Europe—the same number as in 1994, no reductions—110 of which are based at RAF Lakenheath. Is it not time for us to be more open and to consider reducing those numbers?

Business of the House: Debates this Day

Lord Bhatia: My Lords, it is always very distressing to hear about terrorist attacks, no matter where they take place or who carried them out. Innocent lives being lost must be distressing to all of us, in Britain and elsewhere.
	I should like to share with your Lordships what I have gone through since this morning. As I was driving through Westminster, I heard on the radio that there was a terrorist attack. The first news came in that it was at Liverpool Street station. I have an office in the City, right opposite Liverpool Street station.
	My first concern was for my staff. I know that three of my staff members were coming into Liverpool Street station at about that time. My staff is composed of non- ethnic and ethnic minorities working in my office. It took me an hour to track them down. One had arrived, two others could not be found. My telephone was engaged for one hour. While that was going on, a number of calls from my family had been made to me on my mobile phone. My daughters and my son-in-law were all concerned about my safety, and they could not get me on the phone.
	Once I had finished talking to my office, I finally telephoned my family members and was told that all was well. The first concern after that was to send my staff back home as quickly as possible and close the office. As I speak, I hope that that has taken place.
	I have a bigger concern, however, for all of us. We have seen and heard what happened after 9/11. There was a terrible backlash on the ethnic minority communities and the Muslim community, which is part of the ethnic minority communities living in this country. We have lived with this for the past three years. Those attacks, verbal and physical, have abated slightly, but there is still a flavour of what goes on in the wider society. There are extremists in our communities, in our country, who will take the first opportunity to attack ethnic minorities if they can.
	The Prime Minister was quick to de-link terrorism from Islam immediately after 9/11. I give credit to the Government and to the Prime Minister for having probably saved quite a few lives immediately after 9/11. I hope that the Government this time round will also send a powerful message to the wider communities in this country to make sure that the ethnic minorities in the UK are properly protected and looked after by all necessary forces of law. I also hope that the Government will able to track down these terrorists, few that they are, and take them to law and that all processes of law are taken against them.